


Dreams That Might Have Been

by lj_todd



Series: Other Worlds Than These [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: AU, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe of an Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-12-18 01:57:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11864247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lj_todd/pseuds/lj_todd
Summary: What if Oliver had accepted Ra's offer? What might have come from a union of Arrow and Demon's Head?(An AU for my fic "Point of No Return")





	Dreams That Might Have Been

**Author's Note:**

> So this came about primarily because of Mischief11 though I've thought quite a bit about what might have happened if I'd had Oliver accept Ra's offer rather than fight the man.

_"I am offering you, Oliver Queen, a place at my side. As my Omega."_

The words rang in Oliver's ears long after he had left the warehouse. Long after he had made the decision that would save not only Thea but also his city.

He had weighed Ra's offer carefully. Part of him had felt that to accept it would be betraying who he had worked so hard to become. But he had thought of the future, of the world he wanted Robbie to be able to live in, and for all that he stood against the teachings of the League he also couldn't deny the played an important role in the way the world was shaped.

He thought of Robbie and the decision was made.

So he left the warehouse, fully aware of the two League members tailing him, for his own protection Ra's had claimed, and he pretended they weren't lingering in the shadows.

He walked the streets of hit city easily and, before long, had circled back to the loft he shared with Thea. It was quiet when he walked in, the lights dimmed, soft music playing from Thea's room and, passing the open door, he paused to look in on her, seeing she had fallen asleep curled up in Roy's arms. Roy, still very much awake, glanced up at him.

"Hey," the younger man said softly, not wanting to wake Thea. "How'd it go?"

Oliver gave a small smile, hoping it came across reassuringly, but Roy frowned slightly in response and he quickly shook his head.

"It's okay," Oliver said as he glanced at Thea's sleeping face. She was no longer in danger. No longer a target. She would be safe. He drew a deep breath and looked again at Roy. "Things...Things are going to be okay. But we'll...we'll talk in the morning. All of us. At the club."

Roy nodded and relaxed a little, trusting that Oliver would have things under control, and settled back down next to Thea, hugging her close.

Oliver couldn't help but smile at the sight.

Roy would take care of Thea. There was never any doubt of that.

With a deep breath, he turned and continued on to Robbie's room, finding she was curled up in the big tub chair Thea had insisted on buying when they'd been shopping for furniture for the loft. She was clearly fighting sleep and when she heard his steps in the doorway her head snapped up, curls bouncing around her face.

"Daddy?" She rubbed sleepily at her face. "What's..." She yawned. "What's going on?"

Oliver crossed the room and scooped her up into his arms, cradling her to his chest as he sat in the chair, balancing her in his lap even as she snuggled against him.

"We're going to be going away soon, little bird," he said softly, lips brushing against her hair. "To a new home."

Robbie's nose wrinkled.

"But you said Starling City was our home."

Oliver nodded. He had said that. Had promised it. But he knew, so long as he had her then he would be at home no matter where they were.

"I made a promise to someone," he said softly, hand rubbing over her back. "A promise that will protect Aunt Thea and the people of this city."

Robbie tipped her head back to look up at him.

"A promise to Nyssa's daddy?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "And...And part of that promise means...means we'll be getting new family members. Nyssa will...well...she'll be family now."

Robbie's nose wrinkled again.

"She's already family. She was Sara's and Sara was family so Nyssa's family too."

Oliver couldn't help the way his smile widened. Of course Robbie would already view Nyssa as family. She had loved Sara deeply and that love extended to the woman Sara had loved. He knew Nyssa cared for Robbie as well. He wasn't a fool. He had found the dagger the assassin had gifted Robbie some time ago but hadn't said anything. Part of him had liked the idea that Nyssa was trying to protect his daughter in her own way.

"Yes, but now she's...she's going to be family even more." He brushed Robbie's curls back. "I...I'm going to bond with her father. I'll be his mate. His Omega."

Robbie, though tired, tipped her head to one side and hummed softly.

"So...he'll be my new dad?"

Oliver's heart leapt slightly.

He honestly hadn't thought about that. About what role Ra's would assume with Robbie or what she was expected to call him.

"I..." He swallowed around the sudden lump in his throat. "I don't know, little bird. I guess...I guess we'll have to talk to him about that, okay?"

Robbie nodded and then tucked her head against his shoulder, her eyes closing, sleep slowly claiming her and he pressed his cheek to her hair. He wondered if he had, in fact, made the right choice.

Movement at the door made his head snap up and he started to growl only to still, the sound dying in his throat, when he saw Nyssa.

Of course the female assassin had managed to sneak into his sister's home without him knowing it until now.

"Nyssa," he said softly, not wanting to wake his daughter, watching as Nyssa slowly walked closer. 

She was no longer dressed in League gear but dark clothes and a long black coat, around her neck was a dark red scarf that matched the coloring of her gear almost perfectly. Her dark gaze shifted from him to Robbie and there was a deep fondness, even love, there.

"She will want for nothing," she spoke quietly, looking at Robbie's sleeping face a moment longer before meeting Oliver's gaze. "My father can be a...difficult...man, but he will love her with the same fierceness he loves me and my sister. She will be his as much as we are."

Oliver hummed softly and looked at his daughter.

"I don't want to raise another assassin."

Nyssa shook her head.

"Her path will be for her to decide. Not you or my father. He might seek to train her, to prepare her for the cruelties of the world, but he would not force her to be as he, as we, are."

She moved closer, reaching out to lightly brush Robbie's hair behind her ear, smiling sweetly down at the little girl.

"She will know happiness and comfort and safety in Nanda Parbat, Oliver," Nyssa said softly, meeting his gaze again. "As will you. My father is not an easy man but he will honour you as his mate."

"Still feels like betraying everything I worked to build."

Nyssa shook her head.

"You betray nothing." She reached out, cupping his chin, tipping his head back slightly. "Nothing but the memory of a woman you once professed to love by claiming to be her killer." She gave him a stern look. "I know you did not kill her, it would be an insult to her memory to believe it, and she would be ashamed that you would claim otherwise."

Oliver couldn't help but grin. "She'd have kicked my ass."

Nyssa grinned in return. "Yes, she would have."

The female Omega let out a soft sound and looked down at Robbie.

"I swore to her I would see Sara's death avenged," she admitted softly, watching Robbie's eyelids flutter as she dreamed. "I will not break that promise."

Oliver inhaled sharply and closed his eyes, almost able to feel the bonding mark that marked him and Malcolm as mates throb. He knew there was nothing to he could do or say that would prevent the man's death. The Alpha had never truly been his. Not for a single moment of the farce that was their mating. Too consumed by his need for revenge for Rebecca's murder and then too consumed by his need to further his own goals. He claimed to love Oliver and Robbie but he'd turned his elder daughter into a weapon and unleashed her upon the League in a means to force Oliver's hand.

Time and time again, Malcolm proved he could not be trusted, that he had only his own interests at heart.

It was time, it was passed time, to stop hoping the man would change.

"I know," he whispered, slowly opening his eyes and looking at Nyssa. "But I...I just..."

"It will be difficult for you," Nyssa admitted as she brushed her thumb over his jaw before withdrawing her hand. "I cannot begin to imagine what breaking such a bond might do, but you will not be alone Oliver. You will have my father, and me, to aid you. As well as the full support of the League. You are to become Habib al Ghul and that...that will offer you everything denied to you by Al Sa-her."

Oliver nodded and drew a deep breath, pressing a kiss to Robbie's head, before slowly rising, carrying Robbie to her bed and tucking her in.

"I need to pack up some stuff," he said as he made certain Robbie had her favourite stuffed toy. "Can't take everything but there are some things I just...I can't leave behind."

Nyssa nodded.

"I can assist you, if you would like."

"Thank you," Oliver said with a soft smile before they made their way from the room.  
He still wasn't certain if he had made the right decision but at least this way his daughter and his city would both be safe for the foreseeable future.

 

**_oOoOoOo_ **

 

They left Starling City in the early hours of day, dawn having barely broken, Robbie sleeping soundly against Oliver's shoulder as Nyssa drove them to the airstrip.

Oliver had left video messages for his family and friends. He hadn't had the heart to face them and say goodbye. Not when none of them would understand why he was doing this. Why he had made the choice he had. He hoped one day he might be able to have the courage to face them but, for now, this was the best he could do.

When he climbed from the car he found Ra's waiting for him, the Alpha's presence surprisingly calming, and Oliver shifted his hold on Robbie as he slowly approached the man who, soon enough, would be his Alpha.

As he made his way forward he watched as a smile, small and barely there, graced the older man's face.

"Oliver," Ra's greeted him softly, clearly not wishing to wake Robbie, his gaze dropping to the little girl and his smile widened. "She is a beautiful child, _Habib_." He met Oliver's gaze again. "Like her father."

Oliver blinked and felt his cheeks heat up even as he ducked his head slightly, trying to hide the blush he knew was crawling up his face and down his neck in Robbie's hair.

Ra's led him then to the plane, making certain he and Robbie were settled before taking his own seat across from Oliver, watching the Omega he meant to bond with.

The blonde was young in body but his soul was old. It was weary. Yet there was strength in the Omega seen rarely even in the fiercest of Alphas. Oliver Queen was a fighter. It was in him down to his bones and his soul.

When the plane took off, Robbie shifted and whimpered slightly, starting to wake, suddenly uncomfortable as the air pressure around them shifted slightly, just enough for the girl to notice. Her nose wrinkled and her brow scrunched and she let out a high pitched whine that had every person on the plane looking towards her reflexively, their instincts on high alert to protect the child chosen by their master.

Oliver rocked her instantly, hands rubbing over her back, humming before he started singing a lullaby of some sort. Ra's was not familiar with it but it was pretty and worked to help sooth the girl. Oliver held her close, nuzzling at her once he finished singing, and Ra's found himself wanting to do the same. He wanted to show Oliver he cared for his daughter, that her not being of his blood would not effect how he saw her, that he would love and cherish her as he did his own daughters. But, he knew, it was still too soon for such things. There would be time enough later to forge that sort of connection with both father and daughter.

The flight was quiet and uneventful after that and, though Ra's and Oliver exchanged small talk, there was little else said.

When Robbie woke, a few hours into the flight, long before they would reach Nanda Parbat, Ra's was finally properly introduced to the girl who, he hoped, would look on him with the same love she did her father.

Robbie was a quiet child he found, though he suspected once she warmed up to a person things would be different, a suspicions confirmed by the bright smile that graced Robbie's face when Nyssa emerged from the cargo hold of the plane.

"Nyssa!" Robbie squirmed from Oliver's grasp, making the Omega laugh, and rushed to Nyssa, who immediately caught her, swinging her up into her arms with a bright smile.

"Hello, sweetling," Nyssa carried Robbie back towards the seats. "You look well rested."

Robbie beamed up at Nyssa.

"Daddy said we still have a long ways to go before we land," she said as Nyssa sat, holding her on her lap. "I haven't been on a plane since we left China. It's weird."

Nyssa chuckled and continued to converse with Robbie, getting the girl to tell her about the last time she was on a plane and Ra's, sensing what his daughter was doing, used the moment to try and engage with Oliver.

"She is a wonderful child," he told the Omega and watched as a fine blush climbed along Oliver's cheeks. "You should be proud."

"I am." Oliver smiled as he looked at his daughter, watching as she showed Nyssa one of the hand singles they had been working on recently. "I'm lucky to call her mine."

Ra's asked of her early years then and, though Oliver hesitated at first, the Omega talked quietly of her first steps, her first words, how she had been an easy, quiet baby and how she took to training like a fish to water. She was a warrior at heart, like her father, Ra's saw, but he also saw her compassion and kindness. She would be a fierce woman once she was grown.

By the time they reached Nanda Parbat, Ra's found Robbie had won part of his heart just as his own daughters had. She was a bright child, curious and full of life. She had, eventually, left Nyssa and ventured towards him, hesitant at first with the strange man taking her and her father so far from what she had grown to know, but as he talked to her, telling her an old fairytale he remembered his mother once telling him when he'd been a boy, she climbed into the seat next to him, leaning against his side.

Oliver watched the exchange and couldn't help but smile.

He could see Robbie was hesitant to accept a new figure in her life, wary to lose them like she'd lost so many others, but she was slowly warming to Ra's.

Nanda Parbat was more than Oliver could have thought.

The massive keep, a castle really, was carved right into the stone of the mountains surrounding it and as they passed through the gates he saw his own awe reflected in Robbie's eyes. She looked up at him with the biggest smile and squeezed his hand. He smiled back at her and felt, for a moment at least, that he had made the right choice after all.

 

**_oOoOoOo_ **

 

Bonding with Ra's did not happen right away.

Ra's gave him time, would have given him all the time in the world perhaps, but Oliver found his heat coming on, the first he'd experienced since the night he'd dreamt of Malcolm coming to him, taking him, reaffirming their bond, and, with the early scent of his heat wafting from his skin, he had gone seeking Ra's.

The Alpha had been clearly surprised but had welcomed him to his bed with gentle touches and words, quiet promises of love and fidelity and protection.

When Ra's claimed him it was with a bite to Oliver's wrist, a spot that would be covered by the mating cuff he had gifted Oliver during his courting process.

Despite Oliver's heat, Ra's had maintained enough of his senses to remain gentle with the Omega, rather than giving into his animalistic desires to simply take what the Omega had offered. He wanted Oliver to be able to look back on this first coupling, the moment they had bonded, with fondness. He wanted Oliver to remember that an Alpha had put his desires first.

After their bonding, Oliver took a more active role in the League. He was no killer, not any longer, and through their bond Ra's felt his new mate's reluctance to take a life, so instead he became a teacher. Those who came seeking to become of the League faced three of Ra's generals and then faced Oliver, who's training, so different from the League's, gave him an edge the new recruits did not expect. Only those who met Oliver's standards were given the chance to face Ra's.

Ra's watched his mate blossom into a stunning creature, an Omega confident and powerful, certain of himself in a way he had not fully been when first he had agreed to be Ra's mate. He quickly grew into his new position as Habib al Ghul and earned a name from those of the League who came to see him as their brother above all else. Al Sa-him. The Arrow.

And then there was Robbie.

She took to Ra's training easily. Just as Nyssa and Talia had before her. She was small but quick. Though she learned the bow it was quickly discovered her weapon was, in fact, the sword. She was quick and steady with a blade and, though Oliver worried of her becoming an assassin, he smiled every time she mastered a new technique. Every time she bested someone more experienced than herself.

The day she managed to finally disarm Nyssa was the same day Oliver announced he was pregnant.

A thrum of excitement and joy washed through Nanda Parbat and Ra's radiated Alpha confidence and pride for weeks. He tried not to be possessive of his mate, tried not to growl at any who came too close, but his instincts fought him hard. It was only when Robbie, sweet girl that she was, poked him in the side at dinner one night, glaring up at him with the same scowl as Oliver that things changed.

"You're making daddy grumpy," she declared, giving Ra's what Nyssa called the stink eye. It was something she had learned from Oliver, who was snorting into his soup, fighting hard not to laugh. "And daddy's not supposed to be grumpy or anything. Miss Anya said so."

"Of course, little bird," Ra's said, having long ago picked up on Oliver's nickname for Robbie, looking at his mate then. "My apologies, _habib_. I do not mean to upset you."

Oliver reached over and took Ra's hand in his, lifting it, brushing a kiss over the back of the Alpha's knuckles.

"I know you don't," the Omega said as he laced their fingers together.

Ra's smiled but Robbie was speaking again, drawing his attention back to her even as Nyssa shook her head, muttering about sickeningly sweet family moments.

"You got to do better, _Bābā_ ," the girl said, stabbing a carrot with her fork. "Daddy can't be stressed out. It's not good for the baby."

Ra's nodded and started to reply only to realize what Robbie had called him.

His heart leapt into his throat even as Oliver and Nyssa stared, wide eyed, at Robbie.

"You...Robbie..." Ra's cleared his throat and Robbie looked at him, blinking in confusion. "Do you know what that word means, little bird?"

Robbie's nose wrinkled. "You mean _bābā_?"

Ra's nodded and Robbie rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"I know it means papa," she muttered into her plate, ears turning red even beneath the fall of her hair. "I know that." She glanced at Ra's, obviously wary of his reaction. "You're the baby's papa but...that doesn't mean you can't be mine too, right?"

Ra's reached over and brushed Robbie's hair back.

"I would be quite proud, little bird, to be your _bābā_."

Robbie slowly smiled and, just like that, the tension in the air melted away.

Months later, during a fierce winter storm, Ra's paced outside the doors of his chambers, the chambers he shared with Oliver, listening to his mate's cries, feeling his discomfort, his pain, and unable to do anything about it. Anya had forced him from the room when Oliver's labour had intensified and the Alpha had proven to be more hindrance than help. The only thing that kept him from storming back into the room was Robbie.

The girl sat against the wall across from where Ra's was pacing and she twitched with every cry from her father, every wail of pain, every curse of Ra's name.

"You're going to put a hole in the floor, _bābā_ ," she commented and Ra's paused looking down at her sharply for barely a heartbeat before he let out a low sound, moving to join her, to sit alongside her.

"Daddy's going to be okay," she said and there was something wrong about a child reassuring him when he was the adult. "He had me without anyone but Dad to help him give birth to me."

Ra's blinked.

It was not often Robbie, or Oliver, spoke of her Alpha parent.

"Daddy's strong," Robbie continued, not noticing Ra's surprise, though she reached out and took hold of his hand. "He's always been strong. You'll see, _bābā_. He'll be okay."

Ra's nodded and wrapped his arm around his adopted daughter, hugging her to his side, waiting silently with her until the screams stopped and, for a heart stopping moment he feared the worst, and then the doors opened and Anya stepped out. She gave a small smile and nod and, quick as lightning, both Ra's and Robbie were up and moving, rushing into the room, finding Oliver propped up against pillows, cradling a baby in his arms.

The Omega smiled at them as they quickly, carefully, joined him on the bed, Ra's rumbling deeply, nuzzling at Oliver's sweaty hair, staring down at the baby whimpering in his mate's arms even as Robbie tucked herself against Oliver's side, staring with wide eyes at her new sibling.

"A boy," Oliver said softly, sleepily. "We have a son." He glanced at Robbie and smiled. "You have a baby brother, sweetheart."

Ra's heart leapt and he whispered a prayer of thanks against his mate's skin as he rested a hand against their son. Their son. It was a wondrous thing.

Oliver, exhausted, leaned into his mate, his Alpha, and took in the sight of their family even as Nyssa appeared in the doorway, out of breath, her hair flying like a dark flag around her, and when she caught sight of them, of the baby, she let out a soft sound and hurried forward to join them.

This was his family.

His mate and children and blood-sister.

He smiled and looked down at his son.

 _Dusan_ , he decided in that moment as bright little eyes opened slightly, peering up at him before closing again. _His name will be Dusan, for he will be the spirit of the League._

For the first time in a long time he felt like he had made the right choice after all.


End file.
